Destin from Smarter Every Day has a good explanation of this kind of locomotion:

Jorpho
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2014-08-29T16:59:03Z —
#4

A tad reminiscent of Princess Mononoke, amirite?

peemlives
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2014-08-29T17:11:59Z —
#5

Substantially cuter than the end of Akira!

Mister44
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2014-08-29T17:20:03Z —
#6

Huh - I think I found a pile of these things once. Or possibly a pile of maggots? Just one day out of the blue mom called me up and had me get rid of this pile of wiggling larvae. It was nasty. Probably about 3-4in x 1-1 1/2in. I scooped them up with something and chucked them over the fence into the field.

cleveremi
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2014-08-29T17:21:21Z —
#7

Adorable Nightmare Fuel! I should not have clicked the video. It's only 20 seconds, but I lasted for less than half of that before I started itching, blech.

It's totally interesting, group motion like that, but I guess I'm delicate as far as the visual is concerned.

This video seriously brought out my inner crow. For a few seconds, I was like "Aw, cute fuzzies, all wiggly together! That's the spirit!!" And then I was like "Aw crap. There goes lunch." And than I was all "Dammit. I thought I had my identity issues worked out. A cat can't be a bird, can they? Maybe I'm actually one of the gnat larvae?"

solstone
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2014-08-29T18:58:38Z —
#12

"We should go this way!"

"No, we should go this way!"

I feel for the ones at the split who are having to make the decision about which group to go with. Can't be easy for little larvae, I figure...

Fungus gnats are small, dark, short-lived flies, of the families Sciaridae, Diadocidiidae, Ditomyiidae, Keroplatidae, Bolitophilidae, and Mycetophilidae (order Diptera); they are sometimes placed in the superfamily Mycetophiloidea. The larvae of fungus gnats feed on plant roots and fungi, which aids in the decomposition of organic matter. The adults are 2–5 mm long and are important pollinators that can help spread mushroom spores as well as plant pollen. It is well documented that they carry on ...

The suspense about the split is killing me. Does the group ever split entirely into two before they reach the other side? Does it result in a fungus gnat larvae civil war over the Great Sidewalk Schism?

"Splitters!"

frauenfelder
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2014-09-03T16:08:59Z —
#18

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